Hebrews 2:5–11 and 14–18
“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.
“In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present, we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
“For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Jesus’ humanity
All of us who are followers of Jesus have likely had the experience of wondering if wholeheartedly following Jesus is worth it. Likely all of us have wrestled with doubts or questions about faith that we couldn’t resolve. And then for most of us, we’ve gone through disappointments, or we’ve become distracted, or we’ve experienced some pressure to throw in the towel on our faith.
In the opening verses of Hebrews 2, there is a call to guard your life against drifting away. That’s followed by a warning about neglecting the great gift of salvation that is ours in and through Jesus.
We continue in chapter 2 and the focus is on Jesus’ humanity. Jesus is fully God, and he is also fully human. That uniquely positions Him to do what needs to be done and makes Him uniquely suited to know exactly what we’re going through.
There are four things Jesus is for us in His humanity. He’s:
The pioneer of our salvation
Our brother who isn’t ashamed of us
The One who frees us from the fear of death
Our High Priest who fully identifies with us
1. The pioneer of our salvation
The idea of a pioneer is someone who goes into an uninhabited territory and opens the way for others. He’s a trailblazer.
One commentator describes it as a person who fights as a representative of an army. In ancient times, two armies would choose their strongest warrior and their two would fight to the death. A victory for the warrior was a victory for the whole army.
Jesus came as God in human flesh and through His suffering, He made the way for my salvation and yours. He was victorious over death and through that victory as our representative, we share in His victory. He’s my champion who will bring me through whatever it is that I’m going through.
2. A Brother who isn’t ashamed of me
Have you ever been embarrassed by a family member? Do you have a sibling, or an uncle, or a cousin that acts in ways that always have you on edge when you come to a family gathering? They’ll say things or tell you stories that make you cringe. You love them but you’re a little ashamed of them.
Jesus is my elder brother, and I know myself well enough to know that I’ve done things and I’ve acted in ways that have surely caused my older brother to be embarrassed that we are from the same family. As our perfect older brother, He is not ashamed of you. He’s proud of you. You are not fully formed and yet He embraces you as your brother.
In the ancient world, when you wanted to let people know who you were you wouldn’t produce a resume with all your accomplishments. You’d produce a genealogy that told of the family you came from and their accomplishments. Depending on who you were trying to impress, you might leave out some bad apples on your family tree. You might include a distant relative who had great status. That’s why it’s so interesting to read the genealogy of Jesus.
Matthew and Luke include the genealogy of Jesus in their gospels. What’s so remarkable about Jesus’s genealogy is that mixed in with great legends from Jewish history are the names of 5 women.
To include women in one’s genealogy was unusual. And then, in looking at the women who were included, you have Rahab the prostitute whom God redeemed, and Tamar who poses as a prostitute.
There is Ruth, a displaced widow. As well, you have Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, whose name brings to mind the shameful actions of King David at one of the worst seasons of his life. And finally, there is Mary, a peasant teenager who was looked down on as an unwed mother.
Pastor and author Tim Keller observes that the genealogy of Jesus is filled with flawed people who Jesus is proud of.
If you wanted to present an impressive genealogy, you may have left off some of these names. But here’s the message: God is able and willing to redeem all kinds of people, people with a good past, people with a complicated past, people who are highborn and lowborn, peasants and kings. Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.
3. The One who frees us from the fear of death
Here the author uses the phrase, “and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death”. For so many, they view death as the ultimate end. And if it is, then life has very little meaning. If this life is all there is then people grab as much as they can before it’s over, only to find that accumulating stuff doesn’t satisfy.
Jesus experienced death and then He defeated death by rising from the dead. And when He defeated death, He defeated it for me. Yes, you and I will physically die, but Jesus’ resurrection ensures my resurrection. I need not fear death.
Jesus tasted death for me, and He did what I could not have done. He defeated it. In light of that, I don’t go looking for death, but neither am I a slave to the fear of death. For those early Christians who were being threatened with death for their faith in Christ, that was far less a threat than for someone who didn’t know Jesus.
For the Christian, it’s a win-win. Life down here with Jesus is a win and when this life is over, I’m with Jesus. That’s a win.
4. High Priest who fully identifies with me
Under the old covenant, the high priest gave oversight to Temple worship in Jerusalem. His most important duty was to go into the Holy of Holies once a year on the day of atonement where he would make a sacrifice for himself and the sins of the people. He would take blood from a lamb and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. The sacrifice would make atonement, it would be a payment for the sins of the people. That sacrifice was for the high priest as well because he needed forgiveness as much as anyone else in Israel.
I love how the writer puts it here in verse 17, “For this reason, He had to be made like them fully human in every way in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.”
He’s one of us. As our high priest, He engages us with a full understanding of the human experience: temptation, hardships, hunger, weariness, grief, betrayal, rejection, disappointment—Jesus experienced it all.
He experienced it all and that means that He understands me. He takes all of my failure and my sin on Himself on the cross. And as the sinless One, He stands before a Holy Righteous God and He presents Himself as the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. To a group of people who were going through stresses and persecution the writer wanted them to know two things:
You don’t have to go back to Judaism with its high priest and sacrifices.
You have in Jesus a better high priest.
He knows you. He knows what you’re going through. He went through it. He’s not going to leave you or forsake you. He’s got you in His hands.
— Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermon on April 17, 2021
CLICK HERE to watch the Hebrews 2 sermon on YouTube.